The Demon King's Whim (Continued)

She met Erica twelve hours earlier.

At that time, she was dealing with increasingly frequent evil spirit incidents in Italy —following the divine war in the Far East, twelve evil spirit attacks of varying magnitudes had erupted in Milan alone. Some magicians believed this might be a backlash caused by the Seventh King arbitrarily breaking the barrier between life and death. This was because not only Italy, but hundreds of countries around the world had experienced varying degrees of dark invasions after the divine war ended seven days prior.

Evil spirits, urban legends, dark creatures. Witches and knights have been fighting these things for millennia. Even though the number of attacks has increased more than twentyfold compared to the past, the various spellcasting organizations are confident they can handle them. After all, even if the Great Knight are completely defeated, there are still powerful God Slayer guarding the last stronghold.

Ah... that's right. A powerful God Slayer.

The Italy King of Swords had been unable to be contacted smoothly for an entire week, which was very unlike the war-monster he was known for. Furthermore, all the divinations pointing to him pointed to a disturbing outcome—because a living God Slayer is fundamentally immune to being targeted by any divination. Using Spiritual Vision would directly result in a backlash. And if the divination were to succeed, regardless of the outcome, it would signify a well-known fate.

The King of Swords has most likely perished in battle. And according to the divination, his death is very likely related to the Seventh King, Surtr.

The whole of Western Europe was thrown into turmoil, but the king's hostility and rage were clearly more deadly and urgent to deal with than the widespread invasions.

As the birthplace of the Seventh King, Italy's magic societies clearly bear the heaviest burden. It is against this backdrop that Liliana finds Erica lying unconscious in the mud in a secluded alley, protected by a spell.

She didn't know what Erica had gone through, but she felt that she, the one bound by this ill-fated relationship, had seemingly touched upon death. At the same time, she also knew that Erica held the status of King's subordinate and had a crucial mission to perform nearby—to track down the trail. The silver-haired maiden quickly discovered the unusual activity on Sardinia. While sending Erica back to the Bronze Black Cross for emergency treatment, she also led an elite squad to investigate Sardinia. However, the investigation yielded almost nothing.

All she knew was that a battle had broken out there, a brutal battle almost identical to the ordinary divine wars before the arrival of the Seventh King —the aftershocks of which destroyed all possible traces. The only thing she was certain of was that Erica had not ultimately been defeated, but had embraced the path to destruction alongside her adversaries.

She didn't pursue the investigation further; the king's secrets were not to be casually pried into. So she simply sealed off Sardinia and returned to the Society's headquarters. After a brief rest, she learned that Erica could not be awakened by conventional means. After half a minute of thought, she accepted the mission to meet the king.

—The Seventh King ... Emperor Lord of Flame King, what kind of person will she be?

The thought flashed through her mind in an instant, through the porthole. She saw the false sun hanging directly above the archipelago—it was seven o'clock at night. The wall of rain-laden clouds behind her resembled a barrier from another world. And that false sun was precisely what the Seventh King's palace looked like now.

—The great king, the benevolent king, the terrible king.

—I hope the king will not hold Erica accountable for her delayed return.

Liliana breathed lightly. The plane was landing, and being King's kin, she naturally dared not let the passenger plane head directly towards that distant sun—she certainly didn't know that simply calling out the king's name would earn her attention, or even be directly transported to the Solar Palace in the center of the sky.

But even if she knew, it wouldn't have made much difference, because when her feet touched the concrete ground of this Second New Tokyo City, all she saw and heard was an overwhelming fervor and faith.

Atop every building, a massive bonfire burned. Because the king had always ruled over fire and light, the reborn inhabitants of this island nation revered fire and light as sacred omens—people wore robes of red, scarlet, ochre, and any color associated with fire. Men and women, young and old, all knelt in the streets or beside the bonfires, worshipping and loudly chanting hymns of praise. The priestesses and priests, who originally had objects of worship, had long since become the lead singers.

—'Praise be to you, the great Emperor of Flame '

—'Praise be to you, Immortal Surtr '

—'You are the fire of fire, the light of light'

—'You bring judgment, but also hope.'

The deep Japanese chants coalesced into a thunderous tone. Despite being from a Far Eastern country, they employed Western grammar— the silver-haired knight maiden could clearly sense the immense power contained within these chants. Something akin to Curse Power resonated within them, yet it was purer and more powerful than ordinary Curse Power.

"To be honest, doing this kind of thing is quite disgusting. But what can we do when so-called divine power is just a collection of prayers? In order to accumulate strength to deal with bad situations in the future, we have to deal with this kind of power that is obtained by exploiting people's hearts."

A voice came from beside her, sounding like a very tired working woman who had been working overtime for a week straight without a break. The silver-haired Knight Princess turned her head and saw a red-haired girl who was about her age but seemed much prettier than her. The girl had her arms crossed and looked at the frenzied city with a look of helplessness and complexity.

Liliana felt she must have seen her somewhere before, but her mind was as if veiled. A name was on the tip of her tongue, yet she couldn't bring herself to utter it.

--who is she?

"Sorry, I'm not used to being watched by others. So I set up a cognitive filter, which won't have any side effects. However, it's too much trouble to adjust the filtering logic temporarily. So I'm sorry to trouble you to stay in this state for a while longer."

—What is she saying?

—Is she clasping her hands together... to apologize to me?

Why do I feel like I shouldn't...?

The silver-haired knight maiden was puzzled. Yet her body instinctively avoided any hint of courtesy. And even in her confusion, not a trace of curiosity or desire to know surfaced.

"Hello, I am Liliana Kranichal of the Bronze Black Cross. May I ask who you are...?"

She instinctively gave a knightly salute.

However, the red-haired girl simply waved her hand casually.

"Surtr, currently unemployed. Hmm... you brought Erica back. Hey you, come grab a bag."

Before she could finish speaking, a woman came forward and took the suitcase from Liliana's hands—she appeared to be a very beautiful oriental maid. She was dressed as a servant, but had a servant's chain around her neck.

Liliana felt that she didn't need to find out the maid's identity.

It's unnecessary, and it's best not to.

Because she sensed that the maid seemed to tremble with anger as she took the suitcase, she suddenly turned around, let out a soft shout, and punched the Flame-haired Girl in the head!

It is imposing and ruthless.

Then Miss Surtr slapped her against the wall next to her—the wall didn't break, but the maid's upper body exploded like tofu pudding falling to the ground.

Liliana's body trembled.

However, the next moment, the maid who should have died was restored to life with a snap of Miss Surtr's fingers. Then she obediently took her suitcase.

"It's good to have guts. But if you want to live under my thumb, you should always pay a price."

"Miss Surtr," she said calmly. Her other hand held the hand of a young girl with cat-ear-like hair, who kept young girl eyes fixed on Liliana.

It's very strange; everything that happened is very strange.

But the silver-haired knight maiden felt that everything happening before her eyes was perfectly reasonable and made no logical difference. But the moment her gaze met that of the young girl, she suddenly felt that she might need to give the little girl a piece of candy.

She reached into her pocket and took out the Gorgon Stone —she felt that the stone now resembled a sweet candy that would be perfect to give away.

Then, a look of anticipation appeared in the young girl's eyes.

Then--

"Can't you guys have any consideration for Miss Surtr, who just finished her three-shift shift and was planning to take a walk to relax?"

The voice of the Flame-haired Girl was slightly reproachful.

And so, the Gorgon Stone transformed back into its treasured form. The Knight Princess gasped in surprise, about to reflect on her strange outburst, when she noticed the young lady patting her shoulder.

Her mood instantly calmed down, as if this were a tremendous honor and praise. Her body subconsciously relaxed, and her blood flow slowed. Amidst the young girl's aggrieved and dissatisfied gaze, she heard Miss Surtr's invitation.

"I know why you came, but those things don't matter."

"Because I'm tired, sleepy, and bored right now. So..."

The Flame-haired maiden hair winked playfully.

"... Before we get down to business, would you like to take a walk with me?"